Improvement in sewing-machines



Q. RICE.

- v Sewing Machine.

No, 31,429. Patented Feb. 12, 1861 vrzlmassas N. PETERS.Phmc-Lnhngmphk'r. washm mn, u c,

UNITED STATES PATENT rrra.

QUABTUS RICE, OF WEST VVINSTED, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF -AND L.II. SMITH, OF SALEM, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 31,429, datedFebrnarylQ, 1861.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, QUARTUs Bron, of West Winstr d,in the countyofLitchfield,in the State of Connecticut, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Sewing- Machines; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full and exact description thereof, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, making part of this application.

My invention has for its object a more economic and effective methodthan has heretofore been adopted in the sewing togetheroflong pieces ofmaterial in large quantities-as, for instance, in making sails; and myinvention consists in the employment of a sewing-machine in combinationwith a railroad and suitable mechanism for imparting motion from a fixeddriving-shaft to the main shaft of the sewing-machine, to cause saidmachine to travel on said railroad and at the same time perform theoperation of sewing on the material, which is held in a fixed anddistended condition, as hereinafter full y described.

It has been customary previous to my invention to employ thesewing-machine in such manner, through a great variety of construction,as that the material to be sewed should be fed under the needle, whichremained stationary; and in some instances sewing-machines have beenconstructed with a traversing carriage arranged on the machine, and inother instances with the body of the machine made to traverse waysformed on the table of the machine. It has also been customary to employa sewingmachine in connection with a railroad in such manner thathand-power must be applied directly to the sewing-machine as it moved;but I have found in practice that none of thesemethods of sewingis welladapted to putting together in long seams of large quantities ofmaterial-as, for instance, in sailmaking; and in view of thedii'ficulties presented in this kind of work I have devised my improvedmethod, in which I propose to fasten to points on a frame extending thewhole length of an apartment, the widths of material to be united, andso combine the machine with a railroad and a system of driving-pulleysor their equivalents as that the machine (driven from a fixed portion ofthe apparatus) shall run along the entire length of the seam andeffectually unite the breadths of material l with that kind of seamwhich is suitable for such work.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willnow proceed to describe the same, referring by letters to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which-Figure l is a perspective view of my improved apparatus. Fig. 2 is avertical longitudinal section of the same, and Fig. 3 is a detailpartial side view, which will be explained hereinafter.

In the different figures the same letters of reference indicate the sameportions of the apparatus.

A is theframe of the sewing-machine, supported on four legs, a,PIOXltlBd at their lower extremities with rolls or truck-wheels b I),which are adapted to and run on rails B B, which are arranged on thefloor of the apartment in which the sewing is to be done.

C is a toothed or ratchet bar, arranged on the floor, and with whichengages the mechanism for feeding the machine along on the rails B, andwhich will be presently explained.

D Dare two parallel bars or frame-pieces, which are arranged one on eachside of the machine and a short distance from it, running from one sideof the room to the other. On one of these bars D are placed on suitableaxes the two pulleys E and Fone of which, E, is the main driving-pulleyfI have shown it supplied with a handle, a, for applying hand-power; butit may be driven by any m0- tive power.

G is a pulley arranged on the side of the sewing-machine and driven bythe belt 0, which passes around it and also around the pulleys E and F.

From the top of frame A of, the sewing machine project upward two arms,H and I, to one of which is fastened the presser-foot d. In the other,H, is arranged the carriage f,

in which the needles 9 are secured.

h is a guide-plate through which the threads pass at 1 2 from the spoolsJ J, which are hung on studs j, projecting from the end of arm H. (SeeFigs. 1 and 2.) The needle-arm L is hung on the side of arm H by apivot, t', and is vibrated around said pivot in the usual manner, so asto impart a vertical reci procatory m0 tion to the needle-carriage f.

The operating mechanism is driven from a main rotating shaft, 0, and onthe end of which is fixed the pulley G, and on which are secured thecams P and Q, and also the cam or eccentric which drives the needle-arm.(This eccentric not seen in the drawings.) On the under side of the bedAof the machine is secured a pendent frame, R, in thelower end of whichis hung on a pivot, m, a bent lever, is. The lower end of this lever inrests on and is affected by the cam P in such manner as to turn the saidlever on its pivot m and make its upper end impart motion, in onedirection, to the carriage which carries thelower needles or hooks, andwhich carriage is forced back by a spiral spring, 1. The cam Q operatesthe hook-lever T, which is pivoted in the lower end of the pendent armS, and in. the lower end of which is hung the ratchet-pawl V, that worksin the toothed bar 0 and feeds the machine along on the railroad.

U is a lock-pawl, which holds the machine relatively to the road whilethe pawl V is moving forward to take a fresh bite.

V is a bar extending down from the arm S and having'a stop-screw, p, inits lower end to regulate the extent of motion and thus the feed of themachine.

The detail of construction and operation of the mechanism by which thestitches are formed need not be here explained, as my invention is notconfined to any particular machine in this respect. It will beunderstood that when motion is imparted to the drivingpulley E theendless belt 0 will cause the pulley G to rotate on its axis, and thispulley will drive the shaft 0, which moves by cams, as before mentioned,all the operating mechanism. As the lever T is intermittently vibratedthe whole machine is caused to move along on the railroad while theneedles are sewing. Thus the feed of the machine is ca sed by themachine movingintermittently, while the work stands still. This featureof operation is illustrated at Fig. 3, where the machine is shown intwopositions -one in black, the other in red. (The frame A and pulley Gonly are shown in this view to make it simple. The pulleys E and F arepermanent in their relative position during the operation of themachine, and may out the extent of motion of the vibrating lever T isaltered in connection with cam Q, and thus the feed is varied, makingthe machine move greater or less distance at each step, and consequentlytake a shorter or longer stitch.

It will be understood that other mechanism can be employed for operatingthe parts which perform the function of sewing, and also that in lieu ofthe ratchet-bar and pawl 12, operating as described, a rack and pinionor other machinery may be employed to make the machine feedautomatically along the rails B B.

As before mentioned, the cloth is fastened at its extremities in theapartment. The two edges to be sewed are overlapped and arranged in aguide-clamp, Y, on the bed A of the machine, insuch manner as to keepthem properly in position as to the lap while the machine moves along..I have illustrated in blue lines in the drawings the position of thecloth; and it will be seen that the bulk of the material is always offof the machine, only one width at the same time lying on the table A,while the seam is seen in a horizontal position. I have shown-twoneedles, but any number may be employed.

Having described my invention and the mode of carrying the same intopractice, and disclaiming the employment of a sewing-machine on arailroad, in combination with a fixed condition of the work being sewed,what I do claim as my improvement, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is

The employmentofa sewing-machine on a railroad in such manner that themachine shall travel on the road while sewing, in combination-with anysuitable mechanism for imparting motion to the machine and sewingmechanism from a stationary driving-shaft, substantially as and for thepurposes hereinbefore

